Sunday, July 1, 2012

Uncle Tim's Homemade Flour Tortillas

One nice thing about staying at my parents is that my brother Tim is a great cook, and he cooks most nights, so I don't have to :)I do like to cook, but sometimes it is more fun to do experiments at nap time because it gets tough trying to make dinner some nights when Bubba would prefer to be playing rather than watching me cook, but since he climbs everything and gets into trouble when left unattended, Bubba has to stay with me.The other night, Tim made a lovely smoked pork roast on the smoker grill which meant he made his Carnitas with the leftover pork, featuring his homemade flour tortillas the next night.

Tortillas:

2 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 tablespoons oil

3/4 - 1 1/2 cups of warm water

Mix the dry ingredients

Add the water and oil slowly, keep stirring. Getting it mixed is paramount but too much water makes it sticky.

Kneed the dough in flour until it's no longer sticky, but not overly powdery. It should have a nice firm elastic feel to it.

Let it sit in a bowel with a moist paper towel covering it for twenty minutes, or however long it takes you to do something else.

Break the dough into golf ball sized pieces and roll, adding bit more flour if necessary.

(Recipe makes seven or eight. This was a larger batch involving the multiplication of compound fractions, which should only be attempted by trained professionals.)

Flatten them out a bit and roll with rolling pin, don't roll them too thin.

Over high heat, after the skillet is properly warmed up, cook for about a minute and a half. It will start to bubble, when the bubbles get large, flip and cook the other side for a few seconds, then place in oven.

If the tortillas are rather floury, wipe the skillet with a wet paper towel between cooking. For best results, also oil the skillet occasionally (People will tell you you're not supposed to, but this is the difference between theory and practice), and cover the tortillas with a wet paper towel until they're to be served.

Also cook stuff to put in the tortillas, this is Carnitas, (pork and onion and peppers) but they also work for tacos, fajitas, or anything Mexican. And if you really want to be fancy, you can fry the tortillas in a shallow bit of oil and make homemade Chalupas